July io, 19 13] 



NATURE 



4»i 



to be quite distinct from the palate, and to be outside 

 the gums and inside the cheeks, or, on the hypothesis 

 that the longitudinal folds are the upper lips, the 

 plates "are really modified hairs of a veritable mous- 

 tache on an inverted upper lip." It is added that 

 the weight of one of these whales is computed at a 

 ton to the foot, so that a 6o-ft. humpback would 

 weigh 60 tons. A newly-born humpback is stated 

 to have measured 16 ft. in length, and to have 

 weighed a couple of tons. 



Dr. Gertrud Tobi.er lias given an elaborate account 

 of the genus Synchytrium in her recently published 

 work, "Die Synchytrien : Studien zu einer Mono- 

 graphic der Gattung " (Jena : G. Fischer, 5 marks). 

 ["he group (Chytridiales) to which this genus belongs 

 includes the most interesting of the lower fungi, and 

 Frau Tobler's detailed studies include its morphology, 

 cytology, development, influence on the host plants, 

 and geographical distribution, together with systematic 

 desi riptions of the fifty-one recognised species and a 

 list of their host plants. The work also includes a 

 historical summary and a full list of literature, and 

 there are four plates. 



The greater portion of tome 25, No. 4, of the 

 Bulletin de la Sociclc Impiriale des Naturalistes dc 

 Moscou is occupied by two papers on the mechanical 

 tissues of plants. In the first paper W. Rasdorsky 

 gives a useful historical summary of previous work 

 on this subject between 1873 and 1910, and of the 

 present state of knowledge concerning the mechanics 

 of vegetable tissues in both flowering and flowerless 

 plants. In the second paper this author and I. A. 

 Kalinnikow give a long account of their own re- 

 searches with apparatus devised by themselves for 

 testing the strength of fibres and other tissues. The 

 results are set forth in numerous tables and diagrams, 

 relating chiefly to experiments with the stalks and 

 blades of palm leaves and with various kinds of iron 

 and steel. Plant fibres were found to have about 

 the same tensile strength as wrought-iron, and in 

 some cases approached that of steel, while they 

 greatly exceed iron and steel in elasticity, though 

 falling far short of these metals in ductility. 



A copy has reached us of the first report of the 

 Forest Branch of the Department of Lands, British 

 Columbia. This branch was created in February, 

 1912, and the result of the first year's work reflects 

 great credit upon the Chief Forester, Mr. H. R. 

 Macmillan, and his assistants. British Columbia 

 contains one of the few great bodies of commercial 

 timber left in the world which are not yet materially 

 reduced by destructive lumbering, and, with the pos- 

 sible exceptions of Siberia, Brazil, and the north- 

 western United States, the timber wealth of British 

 Columbia is unparalleled in any other country, since 

 it contains not less than one hundred million acres 

 ■of forest land. At the present rate of cutting, making 

 no allowance for annual growth, it would take nearly 

 250 years to use up merely the mature timber now 

 standing; the annual growth of the forests is even 

 now, though they are not yet adequately protected 

 :against fire and waste, not less than five times the 

 present annual cutting. Great stress is laid mi the 

 NO. 2280, VOL. 91] 



need for a prudent policy of forest utilisation and 

 protection, including the formation of forest reserves 

 in such areas as are unsuited for agricultural use. 

 The report is illustrated by thirty-three very fine 

 photographs, which, besides their immediate purpose, 

 serve to convey an admirable impression of the forest 

 vegetation of the province in its ecological aspects. 



The useful ice reports contained in the meteoro- 

 logical chart issued l>_\ the Deutsche Seewarte for the 

 North Atlantic Ocean for July show that early in 

 June a great quantity of drift ice was still met with, 

 especially north of latitude 45 N., where the New- 

 foundland Bank and the district to the east of it, as 

 far as longitude 41° W., were thickly beset with 

 bergs. South of latitude 45 N. the difficulties were 

 not so great; drift ice had much increased since the 

 previous month, but a further advance of the ice 

 southwards was not observed. Two bergs were 

 sighted on June 7, so far south as 43- 1° N., 42-8° W., 

 and the possibility of a further advance would natur- 

 ally have to be taken into account. 



The valuable publication entitled Deutsche iiber- 

 seeische meteorologische Beobachtungen, vol. xxi., 



containing- data for 191 1, is issued by the Seewarte, 

 as in previous years, with the assistance of the Impe- 

 rial Colonial Office, the results being prepared with 

 much care by Dr. P. Heidke. The volume is con- 

 siderably enlarged compared with that of the previous 

 vear (Nature, August 22, 1912) by the addition of 

 observations at definite hours at some stations in the 

 Cameroon district and in German South-West Africa. 

 The discussion and publication of observations for the 

 Protectorate of German New Guinea, and for several 

 islands in the Pacific Ocean, are also contemplated. 

 The volume forms a most important contribution to 

 our knowledge of the climatology of many remote 

 regions. 



We have received from Dr. Louis Bell, whose book 

 on illumination is so well known, a copy of a note 

 he communicated to The Electrical World for May 24 

 on silvered mirrors and their preservation. It appears 

 that the method of covering a silver mirror with a 

 thin laver of collodion, first suggested by M. Perot 

 in the Comptes rendus for November, 1909, may be 

 carried out by applying the ordinary lacquer supplied 

 commercially for protecting silverware. Dr. Bell uses 

 clear " Lastina " lacquer diluted with two parts of the 

 thinner provided with it, and floods the mirror with 

 the solution. On drying, the mirror has lost about 

 4 per cent, of its reflecting power. A still more dilute 

 solution was used for the 2-ft. parabolic speculum 

 reflector of Harvard Observatory. The definition was 

 unimpaired, and after three months of regular service 

 the mirror had only diminished slightly in brilliancy. 



The part of the Proceedings of the Physical 

 Society of London dated June 15 has reached 

 us. We note that the Proceedings are now 

 issued at intervals of two months. The pre- 

 sent part consists of more than ninety pages, and 

 contains twelve papers communicated to the society 

 between March 7 and May 8. Each paper is accom- 

 panied by an abstract and by a short account of the 

 discussion which followed the reading of it. Mr. T. 



